Rupcich v. United Food & Commercial Workers Int’l Union

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Rupcich was fired from her job of 25 years at a Jewel Food Store in 2012 for wheeling a 25-pound bag of birdseed in a grocery cart past the last cash register without paying for it. Rupcich said that she wheeled the birdseed past the last cash register by accident, as she rushed home to care for her sick grandson after her shift ended. Jewel claimed to define “misappropriation” and theft to be strict liability violations that do not require a showing of intent. Her union decided not to dispute Rupcich’s termination with Jewel in arbitration or even process it through the collectively bargained grievance procedure. Local 881 abandoned her case because Rupcich admitted she took the bag of birdseed past the last cash register in her store without paying for it, despite substantial evidence that Rupcich had made an inadvertent mistake. The district court granted Local 881 summary judgment on breach of fair duty of representation and breach of contract claims. The Seventh Circuit reversed, stating that a reasonable juror could determine that Local 881’s actions were arbitrary and outside the “wide range of reasonableness” afforded unions in the grievance process, View "Rupcich v. United Food & Commercial Workers Int'l Union" on Justia Law